Search form

You are here

May Day

The demonstrations and strikes on this year's May Day can be a step toward building the networks we need to resist Donald Trump's attack on immigrants and workers. Below we republish Socialist Worker's May Day editorial, as well as a report by SW editor Alan Maass on what the resistance looked like across the U.S. and beyond.Read more

In the leadup to May Day, the ISO is organizing meetings and helping build for demonstrations to defend the rights of immigrants, Muslims, and refugees, and help deepen ties of solidarity between of all those who are resisting Trump's reactionary agenda. Here’s an article by Socialist Worker journalist and ISO member Nicole Colson on the significance of May Day this year and what we can do in the weeks ahead to build for it .

YOU CAN say one thing for sure about Donald Trump: He's making America protest again—and again, and again.

The Women's Marches held the day after he took office were the largest single day of demonstrations in U.S. history. Thousands of people participated in a new form of protest—the airport occupation—in response to his Muslim ban. There are two major environmental justice mobilizations coming up in in April.

And now, with the Trump regime ramping up deportations and raids across the country, immigrant rights activists and organizations are joining with labor and other forces to turn this year's May Day into a show of solidarity and struggle against Trump's agenda.

The urgency of making a stand is clear after the White House shifted the deportation machine into high gear. Across the country, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have been arresting immigrants on the thinnest of pretexts, without regard to how long they've lived in the U.S., the families that depend on them, or their ties to their communities.

On Monday, ICE agents raided a Chicago home with guns drawn and shot a man who they claim pointed a weapon at them. Everyone in the house had documents—and family members claim the injured father was unarmed and doesn't even own a gun.

ICE has specifically targeted immigrant rights activists and sanctuary cities with the aim of inflicting terror on whole communities and sending a warning to those who would attempt to stand up against the crackdown: Stay in the shadows—or else.

But while these raids and arrests are sparking fear among immigrants, they are stoking anger and a determination to fight back—which is driving interest in the calls for marches and protests on May Day.Read more